Pte 17615 Patrick Hopkins

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 5 Stone Street, Liverpool. His father Joseph aged 42, born 1859 is a dock labourer, his mother is aged 32, born 1869, and they have three children, Patrickaged 5, born 1896, Thomas aged 3, born 1898 and Joseph aged 1, born 1900.  Also in the household is his widowed grandmother, Ann Ronan, aged 58, born 1843 in Ireland and brother in law William Ronan aged 20, born 1871 in Liverpool and he is employed as a dock labourer.

 

The youngest child Joseph died in 1903 at the age of 3.

His father disappears from the electoral roll after 1909 at 5 Stone Street, there is a death record for Joseph Hopkins aged 50 in the December quarter of 1908 in Chorlton.

His mother died, of heart failure in 1910, age 41, she was a widow, leaving sons ages 14, 12, 8, and 4.

 

In 1911 Patrick is living with his uncle John Rownan, his wife and daughter, at 8 Upper William Street, Great Howard Street. His uncle is 41, a dock labourer, Patrick is 15, a baker’s shop assistant.  His brothers Thomas, 13, and William, 9, are boarders at St. Edward’s School, Huyton with Roby.  His youngest brother John, 5, has not been definitively found on the census, but possibly is an inmate at the Poor Law School in Honeysgreen Lane, West Derby.

 

Patrick enlisted in Liverpool on 13th September 1914, as Private 17615, 19th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his age as 18 years and 280 days, and his occupation as mechanic.  He is described as being five feet six and a half inches tall, weighing 114 lbs, with a fresh complexion, brown hair, brown eyes and gave his religion as Roman Catholic. He gives his brother Thomas, at 3 Stone Street, as his next of kin.

Formed on 07^th September 1914 the 19^th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived

07.11.15: Embarked for France with his battalion.

In the new year the Pals battalions take up position in the south of the Somme line near Carnoy and in May 1916 move to Abbeville for training for the “Big Push”.  The 19th Bn is involved in the Battle of the Somme, including the failed and costly attack on Guillemont at the end of July.  His service record survives and shows:

13.9.1916: Granted Good Conduct Badge for two years’ service

16.10.1916: To Field Ambulance (batman)

24.10.1916: Rejoined unit

18.11.1916: To sniping course

26.11.1916: Rejoined unit

 

They see action again at Arras in April 1917 and in May move north to the Ypres Salient. 

 

30.6.1917: Granted leave to U.K.

14.7.1917 : Rejoined unit from leave. 

 

The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) begins on 31st July and continues until November.  The four Pals battalions celebrate Christmas behind the lines and on 31st December the 19th are back in the front line.  During a seven month tour of duty in the Salient, the Pals battalions have lost 22 officers and 518 other ranks killed.  

 

In January 1918 the battalion move south and take up position near St. Quentin.  On 21st March the Germans launch “Operation Michael” with a 4:30 a.m. devastating concentration of artillery shells, both high explosive and gas, on the British positions. The Pals battalions received orders to man battle stations and the 19th moved off for Vaux, then that night were ordered to mount a counter attack the next day on the newly captured German positions at Roupy.  They dig in near the village cemetery.  Poorly dug in and poorly equipped for a long fight, they hold out against the relentless German attack “despite the certain knowledge that they had neither hope of victory nor hope of relief” (Graham Maddocks).  The orders were to defend the position until killed or captured.  

 

Patrick was declared Missing between 22nd-30th March 1918.

 

His name appeared in the list of those Missing published in the Weekly Casualty List on 4th June 1918.

 

Patrick's death was later assumed, for official purposes, as having occurred on 30th March 1918 when he was aged 22. 

As Graham Maddocks points out in his book The Liverpool Pals, the CWGC records 38 men of the 19^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as killed in action on 30^th March 1918 when as the Battalion diary below, shown in bold type, records that the men were actually out of the line and safely on the way to St Valery- sur- Somme.

The composite battalion moved off from ROUVREL at 8.30 am at 50 yards interval between companies, arriving at SALEUX at 3.20 pm where they entrained, detraining at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME the same night. The night was spent at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME.

Apart from those whose bodies were not found and are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial all but two have burial sites at Savy British Cemetery, which itself is within a couple of miles of Roupy and contains most of the identified men killed on 22^nd March 1918. Therefore, it would appear that the date of death for these men shown as 30^th March 1918 is purely an arbitrary one and that they were in fact killed on 22^nd March. 

Patrick has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

He served for three and a half years and earned his three medals. His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £20-10s went to his brother Thomas.

 

In 1919 Thomas provided information on Patrick's living relatives:  

Thomas 21, R.M.S. Aidan, Booth Line;  William 18, 48 Russell Street, Copperas Hill, Liverpool;  John, 14, boarder at St. Edward’s School; Uncle John Rowan, Upper William Street;  Aunt Alice Larkin (his father’s sister), 48 Mann Street, Derby Road, Bootle.  

 

Thomas emigrated to the United States, married and settled in New York and died in 1990.  His brothers William and John remained in England. 

 

Sadly, Patrick has not been found on any memorial.